Today,
the student teachers I’ve been working with said goodbye to the little ones
they’ve spent every weekday with for the past 19 weeks. They also said goodbye
to the wonderful mentors who have supported them throughout the process.
I
talked with the mentors about this final phase of letting go and what it was
they did to wrap up the time together with their interns:
“I
would just give her praise,” Andrea said. “I did that a lot in the end with
her.”
“I
feel like everybody needs praising,” said Abby. “And she has a lot of things to
praise her for.” She elaborated: “I’m a very firm believer in finding the
positive. I try to with my kids, and it was very easy to find things to praise
her for.”
“It’s confidence building,” said Sandi. She then
remembered an anecdote from a recent interaction with her intern. “What did
she say to me one day? Something like, ‘I
can really do this!’ I said, ‘Cindy,
why would you doubt that? You can do this!’ She feels, I think, that we've given her
enough praise and confidence in here that she feels, ‘I can do
kindergarten.’”
Whether
it’s the end of a student-teaching placement or the end of a coaching cycle,
affirming and praising are part of what effective coaches do. “Really?” you may
be asking yourself. “I thought coaches weren’t supposed to praise.” Well,
ladies and gentlemen, the findings of my research about whether praise is
included in effective coaching are expressed in the words of a song: “It’s the
truth! It’s natural! Everything is satisfactual!” When teachers are doing
satisfactual things, it’s a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah day, and praise is called for!
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
In
honor of Leonard Nimoy (Spock), here’s an NPR Podcast explaining the teenage brain:
Captain Kirk vs. Spock:
Weird books to draw in reluctant readers:
World
explorers: Learning through drama
Download
this Spotlight on Professional Development and the Common Core:
Reasoning
about division and multiplication:
That’s it for this week. Happy
coaching!
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